


High above ground

by Dios_memes



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: F/F, Fluff, I may update the summary later, M/M, Pokemon AU, Shameless souyo, multichapter fic, theres a plot, trash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-08 05:44:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4292931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dios_memes/pseuds/Dios_memes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Souji Seta is a new pokemon trainer trying to travel the region when he accidentally gets caught up in someone's evil plan to take over the world. Now he and his new group of weird friends are the only people who can stop it.</p><p>Oh well, as least his life isn't going to be boring, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The beginning of the journey

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, first things first- some things about this fic
> 
> 1) I'll try to update as often as I can. I suck at motivating myself, but please don't expect much.  
> 2) this is going to be gay as hell. This started out as a souyo oneshot idea but then it evolved into a giant fic with plot  
> 3) Please message me at my tumblr if you have any questions about this au. My tumblr is actual-punk-rock-sugawara.tumblr.com  
> 4) I'm awful at titles so if any of you have a better title suggestion please message me

The house is eerily silent as Souji quietly makes his way down the stairs. It's early in the morning, and the first rays of light are just beginning to shine through the windows. It's way to early for any self respectable person to be up- in fact, Souji can see his uncle crashed on the couch, probably dead tired.

A tiny bundle of fluff sits in his uncle's lap; probably his zigzagoon (which the man had affectionately named _Dojima Jr_ ).

Curled up in the armchair next to him Is his cousin, Nanako. She must've come downstairs from her room to sleep next to her dad when he came home late last night. He throws a blanket over her and his uncle before heading to the kitchen to make breakfast.

The Dojima residence is a small, two story house that only has two bedrooms and a small living room/kitchen combo. It's not much, but only three people live in it, and it's enough for all of them: Dojima Ryotaro, a detective that helps out the force with his Pokemon, who can find missing or buried objects anywhere. Then there's his daughter Nanako, who likes taking care of her little eevee and has a shy streak around regular people. And then there's Souji, Dojima's nephew who was unceremoniously dumped at Dojima's house by his parents when he was twelve.

They're not very rich; Dojima's job doesn't pay a lot, and often he has to work long hours and isn't home a lot, but along with Souji and Nanako doing volunteer work they manage to scrape by well enough. Even so, Souji knows that it's hard raising two kids with such a low income.

"I'm supposed to be the one cooking breakfast today, not you."

Souji turns around to face his uncle, who's sat himself down at the kitchen table and picked up the morning newspaper. Dojima yawns and give Souji a tired grin as Souji hands him a cup of coffee. "I don't think you'd want to set foot in the kitchen, uncle- not after what happened last time."

"I know, but it's your last day here with us before you leave, at least let me handle some of it."

"If you want to honor my wishes, you'll let me cook my last breakfast myself." Souji laughs quietly at Dojima's offended look and turns back around to make toast. (It's true that Dojima can't cook at all- Souji doesn't even want to think about what they ate before he moved in)

"Heh, If that's what you want, Mr. Gourmet chef." Dojima replies sarcastically before taking a sip of his coffee. Souji has no idea how he's able to drink it black.

"Is dad trying to cook again?" Nanako asks sleepily, rubbing her eyes as she walks in and gives Dojima a hug. Her hair is undone and in a complete rats nest from sleeping on the chair last night. Her eevee follows close behind.

Souji ruffles her hair affectionately (making it even messier than it was before, oops). "Yeah, he offered to make breakfast for us."

Nanako sticks her tongue out at Dojima. "Ew. Please don't, dad. Do you remember when you tried to make my birthday cake but you didn't crack the egg, you just threw the egg in the cake and it was really nasty?"

"Don't remind me." Souji makes a gagging noise, which makes Nanako laugh.

"I don't know what we're going to do with Souji around the house cooking for us anymore." Dojima laughs. "Sure you don't want to stay around any longer?"

Souji shakes his head. "Nope."

Nanako tugs on his pants leg. "Hey big bro, where are you going on this trip anyways? Are you coming back?"

"Anywhere, really. There's no set destination- a trainer can go wherever they want. Well, not wherever, but you get the idea." Souji shrugs, and Nanako frowns.

"I'm gonna miss you here, though..."

"I'm going to miss you too, Nanako." He ruffles her hair again.

"Will you promise to visit us all the time?"

"Don't worry, I promise I'll visit and call as often as I can."

"You'd better!" Nanako huffs and holds out her hand to him, pinkie extended. "Pinkie swear."

"Alright." Souji wraps his own pinkie around Nanako's. "I pinkie swear that I will call and visit as often as I can."

\---

The moment Souji sees his new Pokemon- a Zorua, tiny and fluffy and energetic- he falls in love instantly.

It's a parting gift from Dojima and Nanako, a way to help him start out his Pokemon collection. Apparently they'd been working for weeks to choose the right Pokemon for him. They'd given it to him just before he departed just before noon.

Souji walks through the forest now, watching as Zorua dances around excitedly and chases his own tail. He seems happy that he's out of his pokeball instead of cooped up.

The forest takes up a good part of this route- one of the reasons their small town is so secluded is because the forest blocks a good part of the roads in and out of the town, and it's swarming with different types of Pokemon. It's a good trial for beginning trainers, certainly. But so far, Souji hasn't run into any.

The two of them are taking a break in one of the clearings. There's a small lake surrounded by bushes and shrubbery- the perfect hiding place for Pokemon. "Hey buddy, are you ready to try battling yet?"

Zorua sniffs the ground and makes a tiny squeaking noise.

Yes it is then.

Souji approaches one of the bushes and taps it lightly with a stick. The Pokemon leaps out at them, and they prepare for battle.

\---

"I'm here to heal my Pokemon." Souji announces, holding out his two pokeballs.

The nurse eyes him skeptically, blowing a bubble with her gum and then popping it. "Alright, hand 'em over. I'll take care of them"

He hands over the two pokeballs- one for Zorua, and one for his newest addition. Getting a second Pokemon had been tedious work, especially since neither he nor Zorua have had any battle experience before this. But after three days he had managed to snag a new Pokemon- a skitty.

He waits as the nurse heals them before politely thanking her and leaving the building.

Somehow, he had made it to the next town over without too much trouble. This town was still small in size- but it was bigger than the tiny village he lived in, which may as well have been a small cluster of houses compared to this place.

Here, it's much more convenient to become a Pokemon trainer- with home businesses that sell everything from natural aroma healers to power boosts. There's a rumor that there's even a guy that can teach your Pokemon moves for a small price.

As well as that, they have a Pokemon center where you can heal your Pokemon and take breaks if you need to, which is surprisingly convenient. Souji had thought that he would have to go a long portion of his journey only healing with potions and such.

He takes Zorua out of his pokeball so they can walk together.

Right next to the Pokemon center is the pokemart, a place where you can buy pokeballs and medicine. Souji leads the both of them towards the blue building. The doors open automatically, and Souji steps in followed by Zorua.

"I'm telling you, sir, we don't have what you're looking for here, we're just a small branch store!"

The first thing Souji sees when he walks into the pokemart is a robbery.

There are two people in the store- the cashier and a strange man wearing all gray. His face is covered by a large hat, and two Pokemon stand at either side of him threateningly. The cashier, a timid looking brunette, is flailing around and trying to convince the stranger that they don't have any of the items he's looking for.

"You're telling me you don't even have great balls at this store? What kind of shitty town is this?"

The cashier mumbles something under his breath, and the man goes berserk.

He pounds one of his fists on the table and grabs the cashier's shirt with the other. "The hell did you just say to me?" The two Pokemon at his side (houndoom, he thinks) growl in response to the man's anger. The cashier pales.

"I didn't say anything, I swear! Please let me go!"

"Yeah, right-"

"Hey!"

Souji steps forward, holding a pokeball in his hands. "He said he didn't have what you were looking for, so leave. It's not his fault."

The guy in the grey coat and the hat steps forward and glares at him. Souji tries his best not to do anything stupid- he doesn't think he could take this guys houndooms with a skitty and a Zorua. He doubts the cashier has any Pokemon with him either, otherwise he would've used them already. The guy stares at him for a couple of seconds before turning away.

"Ugh. You aren't even worth my time, so I'll just go to some other store for now. Count yourself lucky, kid."

The guy stalks out of the store, the two houndooms following him. As they pass Zorua, the little fox growls at them. _that was a weird guy..._

He turns to the cashier. "Do you know who that guy was?"

The cashier shrugs.

\---

Later that day, when the sun has nearly set and Souji prepares to leave the small town to continue on his journey. He's walking a long the exit path with skitty and Zorua walking beside him.

He had gone to the pokemart earlier today to check on the cashier and make sure he was okay, but he wasn't there- instead, it was a tired looking girl with brown hair that just rolled her eyes when he asked about the other guy.

"I wonder who that rude guy was before... it looked like he was seriously going to rob that guy... It's a good thing you guys will be there to save me, right?" He leans down and pets his Pokemon.

"Shit, look out!"

Souji looks up to see a blur of yellow before he's knocked off of his feet and his vision goes black.


	2. In which Yosuke regrets everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yosuke makes his first appearance and plot shit happens and everything is really gay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, i finally got off my ass and finished the second chapter (I love writing but I hate writing do u feel me) and this chapter, for the most part, is just really self indulgent souyo to fill the void in my soul because I am trash
> 
> I also think I forgot to mention in the last chapter, but this story is going to contain Pokemon from all generations because this really isn't in a set region (I actually have no idea where the hell they are tbh) so far we don't have any gen 6 I think but just be prepared

Yosuke was having a good day before he was practically mugged in his store and crashed into some stranger with his bike.

He woke up early in the morning, actually feeling good about the day for once. His parents were expecting a new shipment of items today, so they were going to be busy restocking the store. That left Yosuke free to man the cash register all day, which meant that he didn't have to go outside and listen to his neighbors all day.

But then he had gotten to the pokemart that morning (he had left his only Pokemon, a trubbish he calls trash king, at home because his parents didn't want him bringing it into the store with him) and that shady man came in and his stupid dog Pokemon and he just had to potentially throw his life away because he was a smartass.

_"you're telling me you don't even have great balls at this store? What kind of shitty town is this?"_

_"I bet your mom's got some great balls..."_

Oh well. At least as far as sarcastic comments go, he wouldn't really mind if those were his last words really.

But then that silver haired guy had walked in and managed to get the guy to leave, thank god. But the man left before Yosuke had the chance to thank him.

Saki had come in later for her shift, and he had tried to warn her about the mugger; but she hadn't believed him.

_"Listen, Saki, earlier today there was a strange man that came in, and he was violent and I want you to be careful, okay?"_

_"are you sure it was a mugger, Hanamura? Maybe it was just some guy complaining about your customer service, you can come off as a little rude sometimes, you know, haha!"_

Needless to say, that had not gone down well.

Then Yosuke had decided, in his irrational mind (which thought this was completely rational at the time) that he would go find the guy that had mugged their store before he decided to come back and try it again when the silver haired guy wasn't there.

And he had thought it was a great idea at the time! Catch a potential criminal, go on an exciting journey to find him, like the journey's trainers go on! Get cool enough to maybe get a girlfriend like Saki!

But then as he gathered his measly possessions and got on his old bike, riding towards the exit, he realized that this was probably a very bad, _bad_ , idea. He was leaving with only his pocket change and a weak Pokemon to defend himself with. He didn't even have a map to help him get from town to town, and where would he even start? Would he just ride around until he found a town, and then go around asking "hey, have any of you guys seen a shifty guy wearing a grey coat and covering his face? No? Okay, bye!"

He was ready to turn around and head back into town when he lost control of his bike and ran straight into someone walking down the road.

\---

"Holy shit, oh my god are you okay man, fuck I almost killed a guy, I'm so sorry-"

Yosuke grabs his piece of shit bike off of the poor guy and throws it in the grass next to them. The guy waves his hand in dismissal and picks himself off the ground.

Yosuke then realizes that he just ran over his savior from this morning and that he is indeed an awful human being.

"It's okay, it was an accident." The guy dusts himself off and smiles at Yosuke before his eyes widen in recognition. "Oh, you're the cashier from the store earlier today!"

"Haha, yeah, that was me... wow I was hoping I could thank you for helping me out today but I ran you over instead. Whoops."

This is very, very awkward.

"Oh, well it's no problem, that guy was a jerk anyways."

Yosuke finally remembers his manners. He jerks his hand out awkwardly. "Right, I'm Yosuke by the way. It's hide to meet you, and uhh... thanks for saving me."

The silver haired guy takes his hand and laughs. "I'm Souji. It's nice to meet you too, Yosuke. And... thanks for not killing me with your bike?"

"You asshole, I said I was sorry!"

"It's fine, I'm just joking."

"Right." Yosuke crosses his arms and frowns, which makes Souji laugh again. "Anyways, you saved me, so I need to make it up to you. Do you wanna come over to my house for dinner? To pay you back for the, you know." Christ this is awkward. "But yeah, my mom makes pretty good food, so it's even, right?"

Souji nods. "Sure, I'll come over to your house for dinner. It's been a while since I've had a home cooked meal that I didn't have to make, anyways. Besides, we'd get to talk more, so..."

Yosuke can feel his face heat up in embarrassment because seriously, who says that with a straight face? Grabbing Souji's wrist, Yosuke leads the both of them back into the town. "Okay, let's go then..."

\---

"So you're a Pokemon trainer? How long have you been at it?"

It's after dinner now, which was a tense affair (as it usually is with Yosuke's parents) and they're lounging up in Yosuke's room for a while.

"Hmm, let's see..." Souji thinks about it for a minute. "About four days."

Yosuke falls out of his chair. "Seriously? You're shitting me."

Souji shakes his head. "I shit you not. I've only got two Pokemon, see?" He gestures towards the two in his lap. "This is skitty, and this one is Zorua. I only caught skitty yesterday."

Yosuke's tempted to ask if he can pet them but he remains silent.

"Do you have any Pokemon, Yosuke?"

Yosuke nods. "Yeah, just one though. And he's a piece of garbage."

"You shouldn't call your Pokemon that, you know. The bond between a Pokemon and a trainer is special, you know. You have to treat them well or else they won't respond to you."

"I know that. I mean he's _literally_ a piece of trash. Look." Yosuke fishes around in his backpack for a second before he pulls out a pokeball. "His name is trash king."

"Trash king...?"

Out comes his trubbish, which rolls over on his side and makes a groaning noise. "See? Trash. He's lazy, too. I've never fought against other trainers with him or anything."

Souji kneels down and pokes it. "He's cute. How long have you had it?"

"About a year. It was a joke gift I think, from my friend. Or coworker, I guess you could say. I think she was subtly trying to tell me that I was trash, but he grew on me."

Souji frowns, and Yosuke feels kind of bad. Did he say something wrong again? "That's not a very funny joke."

"Yeah, well, I'm used to it. Besides, I got a Pokemon from it for free, so it's really no big deal."

Souji stops frowning, but the slightly troubled expression doesn't leave his face. Instead, he shuffles over to Yosuke and places both of his hands on Yosuke's shoulders. "Dude, wha...?"

Souji clears his throat, looking everywhere but at Yosuke himself. "Just... just remember that one man's trash is another man's treasure, okay?"

And then the moment is over and Souji goes back to petting his skitty, leaving Yosuke to stare wide-eyed into nothingness wondering what the hell just happened. Did... Soujii just try to comfort him? Is that what just happened? "O- okay then..."

He will not admit that Souji's comment made him feel a lot better.

\---

After about an hour of small talk, Souji turns to look out the window. Outside, the sky is dark and the moon hangs high in the sky. Yosuke almost can't believe that Souji had come over when the sun was still setting. Had Souji really been over that long? "I should probably go, it's dark and I don't want to impose on your family any more than I have."

"Wait." Yosuke grabs Souji's wrist before Souji can walk out the door.

"Yes?"

Yosuke turns away so he doesn't have to look at Souji, face red. "You should stay with us for the night. You can leave in the morning, and that way you don't have to spend the night outside or whatever trainers do."

"Oh." Souji says softly. He bites his lip in thought. "Well, I don't want to be a burden..."

"Trust me, you're not being a burden or anything. I wouldn't invite you if i didn't want you." Fuck. Yosuke mentally slaps himself. Did he really just say that out loud? Way to make it gay. "I mean, if I didn't want you to spend the night. I wouldn't invite you if you were a burden, I mean. Damn."

"Yosuke, I didn't know you thought of me that way. I'd say at least buy me dinner first, but you kind of already took me out for dinner, so..."

Yosuke let's go of Souji's wrist and lightly smacks him in the arm. "Dude, I can leave you to sleep in the basement, if you want."

Souji grins. "Sorry. It was too hard to resist. I accept your invite, by the way."

Yosuke feels a wave of relief wash over him. "Oh, okay. Cool."

"So... where do I sleep?"

...

Ah. Fuck.

There's the first problem. Yosuke really doesn't think these things through, does he?

"Well, there's only one bed, i have a sleeping bag though. I can take the sleeping bag if you want the bed." Yosuke walks over to his black hole of a closet where his sleeping bag should be hiding.

"It's okay, I don't mind taking the sleeping bag." Souji replies. Yosuke just grunts and digs through the piles of clothes and old books in his closet. When the hell did he get this much junk?

He finally fishes out his old sleeping bag, grinning triumphantly. It's green and it has all of the power rangers on it. "It's okay. You take the bed."

"I insist, please take the bed. It's yours."

"Nah, I think I'll sleep on the floor."

"Well what if we both sleep on the floor? It'll be like a sleepover." Souji smiles and pulls out his own sleeping bag, which is free of any power ranger designs.

"But that's a waste of a good bed- you know what, never mind." Yosuke shakes his head.

"I'm glad we've reached an understanding."

Souji spreads his own sleeping bag next to Yosuke's and curls up with his Skitty and Zorua.

He's lucky he has fluffy Pokemon, Yosuke thinks as he turns toward trash king, who has taken to lurking under his desk.

Trash king looks at him expectantly.

No. No way in hell is he sleeping with a trash bag Pokemon.

Yosuke sighs and gives in. "Fine. You can sleep at the foot of my bed if you want. But just this once."

He doesn't say anything in the morning when he wakes up curled up closer to Souji, or when he realizes that Trash King decided to sleep on his face when he fell asleep.

\---

It's the next morning, and he's walking through the town with Yosuke before he has to go. Yosuke feels almost sad to see him leave- this has been the first time he's genuinely made a friend in a long time.

The eerie weather is just adding to Yosuke's internal bad mood. Instead of the sunny weather they had predicted on the news, the town is covered by a thick fog that suddenly rolled in this early this morning. This place is usually a silent town; but the fog just makes the silence seem daunting and heavy. Regardless, he's walking outside with Souji before he has to continue with... whatever his goal is.

"No man, I'm telling you that in a battle between the elite four, the one who would win would be-"

Yosuke is interrupted from his rant by the sound of a loud shout nearby. Both he and Soujii immediately turn towards the source and begin running.

 

It's in front of the pokemart, Yosuke's family store. What he sees there makes his blood run cold.

It's the gray coated man from yesterday, but with one other- and they've got a tight hold on Saki.

Yosuke turns to face Souji, who seems to be thinking the same thing he is. Swallowing his nerves, Yosuke walks towards the pair and grabs the man who's holding onto Saki. "What do you think you're doing to this employee?"

Both of the gray coats turn towards him, and it takes all his willpower not to piss his pants. Seriously, how do people manage to glare like that? "Get lost, kid."

"No." Oh fuck he really needs to watch what he says, why doesn't he have any impulse control?

The first one's eyes narrow. "I said, leave."

"And I said no."

"Hanamura-" Saki starts but gets cut short when one of them slaps his hand over her mouth. Saki glares at him and struggles to get out of his grip.

"I don't think you know who you're dealing with, kid. If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get."

The second one lets go of Saki, who runs into the store and locks the door behind her. Both of them pull out pokeballs and Yosuke realizes that if it's a Pokemon battle they want, he's fucked. All he has is trash king with him.

Both of them open up their pokeballs, and they each have one of the hounds from yesterday. They growl at him.

Then, the angel that is Souji shows up and pulls out his own pokeball. He flashes Yosuke a grin and calls out Zorua.

Oh. It's a double battle, which means that Yosuke has to join in as well. He pulls his own pokeball out of his pocket and brings out trash king.

Is it just him, or are the gray coats smiling like they know something?

The fog intensifies, coating the area so thickly that Yosuke can't see more than five feet in front of him- much less the gray coats that have retreated into the mist for protection.

He can feel a sharp pain in the back of his head right before he collapses.

\---

He wakes up to find a concerned Souji leaning over him, shaking him lightly to get him to wake up. The fog is gone, Souji explains, along with the two gray coated men. He reports that they stole from the store while making their escape, but nothing too serious.

Yosuke feels his face burning in shame. He wasn't able to take care of two robbers trying to steal from his family's store. They knocked him out in no time flat. How is he supposed to face his parents now?

"I can pay for whatever they stole. It was my fault they got away." Souji looks guilty as Yosuke checks the cash register to make sure they didn't steal any money either.

"Yeah, right. How much money do you even have, anyways? It'll be my job to pay for it, no doubt. Frickin' bastards."

Souji opens his mouth to say something, but he decides against it.

"Anyways, who do those guys think they are, trying to steal from our shop? They were seriously bad news- if they tricked us into getting into a battle like that, who's to say that they won't do it again?"

"I don't know, but I hope I don't run into them again. I get a bad feeling from them."

"Me too, I just wish I knew what they were planning-" suddenly, Yosuke gets an idea. A very bad, bad, potentially dangerous idea. "Souji. Dude. Let me come with you."

"Pardon?"

"Let me come with you. In your journey. You don't have a set destination, right?"

Souji nods, seemingly confused as to where this is going.

"Well, as a trainer, you're going to get more Pokemon and get stronger, right? And you're going to be going through multiple towns. You might even get the chance to fight gym leaders and stuff, right?"

"Yes, that's right..."

"Well, what if you took me with you? As an employee of this store, it's my job to keep it safe and protect it and I can't just let those robbers get away! So, if I go with you..."

The pieces finally click in Souji's mind. "Oh! I see, if we travel together we have the opportunity to get stronger in pursuit of the gray coated robbers!"

"That's right! So, will you let me?" 

"Well, it sounds like a good idea, and it would be nice to have someone to travel with... sure, I don't mind if you tag along."

"Alright! So, I guess this means we're like partners now!" Yosuke cheers. "This is gonna be great!"

Yosuke has no idea about the shitstorm he's gotten himself into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once I was playing persona four and my twelve year old sister was watching and Yosuke is being an ass or something and she's just like "wow Yosuke you could be a little nicer to your boyfriend" and then I was like "what" and she proceeds to tell me all about how Yosuke and souji are boyfriends and how Chie should just not date him and date Yukiko instead and it was so awkward


	3. Shadow Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternative title: don't stay up with Yosuke past one am he gets really philosophical and gay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Umm okay this chapter would've been much longer but it's really rushed bc I am actually going on vacation to the south for a week to visit racist granny(TM) and I don't know if they actually have wifi at their farm, so...
> 
> But yeah. Take this 3000 word dump that's mostly just Souji and Yosuke bein gay also Teddie introduction hell ya

"Man, I'm tired, can't we take a break?"

"Yosuke, we've only been walking for an hour. It hasn't been that long."

"Yeah, but consider this- if we take a break, then we can try and find out where the heck we are!"

Souji looks up from his map and glances at Yosuke, who grumbles and kicks a rock by his feet. Souji honestly didn't know what he was expecting when Yosuke asked to come along with him, but it's definitely... interesting.

"Are you saying we're lost?"

"Of course we're lost, man! We've walked by this same boulder at least three times. I know because that section right there looks like a face." He points, and Souji ends up looking out of curiosity.

"It does bear an uncanny resemblance to a face, but it looks kind of angry, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Why is he so angry?" 

Yosuke just shrugs. "I dunno man, maybe it was really a human that got lost in the forest just like us and took a nap on this rock and fused with it or something. Maybe he got dumped by his girlfriend. It's just a face on a rock."

"Those are two very random examples..."

"Well, that's the only reason I would ever make a face like that- but the point is, we're lost. We've been walking in circles."

Oh.

Souji leans against the boulder with the face and studies the map once more. It's supposed to be a map of the forest they're currently lost in- he had gotten from one of the villagers at the last town they had visited two days ago. It wasn't very detailed, which might've had something to do with it.

Yosuke leans against the rock next to him. "Here, lemme see."

Souji hands it over, and Yosuke glares at the offending paper. He studies it for a couple of minutes, bringing it closer to his face before he finally rolls it up and angrily hands it back to Souji. "I don't know where the hell we are. Why are we always traveling in forests?"

Why _are_ they always traveling in forests? It's been about a week, but Souji can guess that they haven't made a lot of progress. For the most part, the two of them have been crashing in random houses overnight and loitering around various smaller villages. "To be honest, we probably should've bought an actual map of the region instead of accepting a hand drawn map from the town nutcase."

"Really? The town nutcase?" Yosuke mouths the word 'wow'. "No wonder people were giving us weird looks as we asked that guy for directions. I just kinda assumed that old people would be really smart about that kind of stuff."

"Well you're not wrong, his map does have _some_ use. It describes this giant 'landmark' that's near a path- if we can find that landmark, then we can get to the path, which should lead us to the next big town."

The two of them stand up from their spot on the rock and look at the map once more. "How do we know that rock with a face isn't the landmark that old man was talking about?"

"Well, he said it was like an ancient Pokemon relic depicting ancient history, I think. Maybe we should examine it before we leave, it sounds like it could be educational."

"More like boring..."

Souji just smiles as he leads them through the shrubbery in search of the landmark.

\---

They're camping out for the night and eating dinner when Yosuke brings up a valid question. "Hey partner, there's a gym leader at the town we're headed to next, right?"

Souji sets his plate down on his lap. "We decided to visit the ruins first, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you're a nerd... but what I mean is, if we're headed there to actually face the gym leader, shouldn't we begin training for it?"

Next to him, Zorua stirs in his sleep. The trickster fox was certainly good a good fighter in the battles against wild Pokemon he had encountered, but those were wild Pokemon that hadn't been trained to their full potential- especially not in the way gym leaders managed to train theirs. Adding to the fact that lately, Souji had been battling side by side with Yosuke as a team, so neither of them were especially strong.

Another problem would be that the two of them still only have three Pokemon between them- Souji with Zorua and Skitty, and Yosuke with his Trubbish- "trash king".

"I see what you mean... if we want to fight the gym leader and get stronger, we're going to need to catch more Pokemon and learn how to fight one on one battles instead of as a team. Gym leaders only allow one on one battles, right?"

Yosuke grins. "Right, which means that being lost in this forest is the perfect opportunity to train our Pokemon."

Souji almost swears that Zorua cries out in his sleep at the mention of training.

\---

"How's it going, partner?" Yosuke pops up behind Souji, which makes him jump.

"Well, it's going about as well as you'd expect... skitty just keeps trying to fall asleep," he nudges the furball at his foot, who has given up on fighting and just decided to fall asleep, "Zorua's doing pretty good, though. How's trash king doing?"

The two of them had woken up early in the morning to get some training done, like they'd agreed to last night. They decided to split up and cover more ground and possibly catch some different Pokemon, but at the risk of getting separated permanently they didn't go further than yelling distance.

Yosuke just sighs. "Well, he's a good fighter but I seriously need more than just Trash King if I'm going to battle other trainers seriously. I've almost run out of potions for him."

"Why not just catch another Pokemon?" Souji asks, making Yosuke stiffen.

"Yeah, I should totally do that! Right, I'll just be off then... to go catch one, that is-" Yosuke turns around and begins awkwardly marching back into the forest.

"Wait."

Yosuke freezes again. "Yes?"

"Do you even know how to catch a Pokemon?" Souji asks curiously. He remembers Yosuke saying something about Trash King being a gift from a friend, which means he didn't catch it himself...

"Yeah, no. I don't."

"Well why didn't you just say so? I'll show you."

"Really?"

"Sure, it's not a big deal. Plus, you weren't originally a trainer, right? I'll show you how to catch, and then you can try and catch one on your own, okay? Follow me." Souji begins wading through the tall grass, Yosuke following behind quietly.

They keep aimlessly trudging through the grass before a wild one finally jumps out at them- an absol, one of the more common ones around this area. If Souji remembers correctly, it's a dark type Pokemon that's referred to as the 'disaster Pokemon'. He doesn't want to think about how it earned that title.

"Okay, watch closely."

Making sure Yosuke is paying attention, Souji pulls out Zorua, who gets the first move and manages to attack the absol, which staggers. "You have to make sure to injure it first, or else it will escape. Then, you do this-"

Souji pulls out an empty pokeball from his bag and throws it at the absol.

"It's that simple. You try."

"Fine."

Yosuke walks away from Souji and begins shifting through the unusually tall shrubbery, face twisted in concentration. If he concentrates hard enough, he can almost hear Yosuke talking to himself under his breath.

He shouts in surprise when he encounters his first wild Pokemon- a poochyena.

That's how Yosuke catches his first Pokemon all by himself.

They're making progress. Albeit slowly.

\---

"Hey, let's play twenty questions or something."

Souji turns to look at Yosuke, who's staring intensely at the sky, deep in thought. He doesn't say anything else for a minute, and Souji almost passes it off as his imagination before Yosuke turns to look at him expecantly. "Well?"

"Why do you want to play twenty questions?"

The two of them are camping out in a clearing in the forest once again- this time sleeping on blankets under the stars. There are no clouds out, so they have a perfect view of the night sky. It's almost romantic, even. (Even though Souji would never say that out loud.)

"Well, for one thing, I'm bored." Souji has to stifle a laugh, because that seems like the typical Yosuke answer. "And secondly, I realized that we know almost next to nothing about each other. We kind of rushed into this, I think... n-not that I regret my decision, and I was kinda the one who forced you to bring me along... oh god I'm rambling again."

"It's okay, take your time."

"Anyways, if we're going to be traveling with each other from now on- but we don't really _know_ each other, do we? So... we should like, try to get to know each other better, because if we know each other, we can put our trust in one another to have our backs in battle, you know?"

"Okay, sure. You can go first."

"Uhh... actually, you can go first. I didn't think I'd get this far." Yosuke mumbles.

"Fine. How about..." Souji's at a loss for words for a minute- even before he left home, he was never very good with social situations, and- let's just say he didn't get any better over the span of roughly two weeks. What's an interesting, open answer question that doesn't sound like an awkward icebreaker? "What's your favorite color?"

...

Nailed it.

Fortunately, Yosuke doesn't even blink. "Blue. You?"

"Okay, that's not fair. You can't throw a repeat question at me like that, it has to be thoughtful."

"Yeah, like you put a lot of effort into 'what's your favorite color'." Yosuke jokes, rolling his eyes. "Fine. How about, favorite type of music?"

Oh god, Yosuke's not much better than Souji when it comes down to it.

Feeling slightly less awkward knowing that, Souji just shrugs. "I don't know. I kind of just listen to whatever's on the radio."

"Come on man, you gotta have a favorite artist or song or... _something._."

He thinks about it for a while longer. "I guess I really like classical music? It's relaxing. Okay, my turn. If you were stranded on an island and you could only take one book with you, what book would you bring?"

"Now we're getting into it!" Yosuke cheers. "Uhh... probably like World War Z or something, I guess."

"Oh really?" He has to stop himself from laughing.

"What's so funny about that?"

"Well, I would've thought you would take a book like 'island survival' or 'how to build a raft'. No one said you couldn't choose survival books."

"Damn. I actually didn't think about that. Maybe if we had one of those with us now we wouldn't be lost."

Souji thinks about it. "Well, at least I got to spend more time with you."

Yosuke chokes on his spit. "Dude, you can't just say stuff like that- oh my god."

"Well, we're not technically _lost_ , per se- we're just wandering. It's an adventure."

"You know, when I came along with you on this journey, I was definitely imagining that it would be more... glamorous than this. Like, staying in actual hotels and stuff." Yosuke pauses for a moment and Souji opens his mouth to say _something_ , to tell him that if he did regret his decision at all that Souji wouldn't hold it against him- "but you know, this is fine anyways. It's not often that you get to sleep under the stars."

Souji hums in agreement. "Well. You're right about that."

They fall asleep next to each other, the game of twenty questions forgotten.

\---

There's a blonde kid wearing a bear costume staring at them.

Souji wakes up early in the morning despite the late hour he had fallen asleep that night. Yosuke was still asleep next to him, face covered in drool. 

But even laughing at the expense of Yosuke's less than graceful sleeping habits (because he wasn't the most attractive sleeper, that's for sure- kicking, snoring, stealing covers- he did all of that) couldn't draw his attention away from the blonde kid that was standing _in the middle of their camp_.

They stare at each other in silence for a full fifty seconds before Souji waves cautiously. "Hey there... can I do anything for you?"

The blonde kid furrows his eyebrows. He opens his mouth to say something before shaking his head and closing it again.

Souji makes another attempt. "What are you doing out here in the forest?"

"Uhh... I live here."

This kid can't be more than thirteen, he thinks. This kid can't be living out here in the forest alone. It's dangerous. "Do you have anyone I can take you to? Any parents or anything?"

The kid looks like he's about to burst into tears.

(Ten minutes later, Yosuke wakes up to Souji comforting a strange crying boy wearing a bear costume. This is what his life has become.)

Souji looks to Yosuke, for help. _Do something._

Yosuke just rubs his eyes and pinches himself to make sure that he's not hallucinating before mouthing back, _what should I do?_

_Do something, anything._ he replies. The only kid he's ever had experience with is Nanako, but he's lived with her since she was young.

_I'm not good with kids!_

"Uhh... excuse me? But who are you guys?"

Souji looks down to the kid in his lap, who's managed to stop crying and examines them curiously. He doesn't seem to know how to approach them. Yosuke just frowns and crosses his arms. "We should be asking you that. You were the one that intruded on our camp."

"I'm Teddie."

"So, Teddie, what are you doing in our camp?"

Teddie sniffs. "W-Well, I just needed to make sure you guys weren't dangerous, you've been around here for a couple of days so..."

Souji ruffles Teddie's hair in what he hopes is a comforting gesture. "Don't worry, we won't hurt you. My name is Souji, and this is my friend Yosuke. We're just passing through." Technically not a lie. They had intended to just pass through when they got lost.

Yosuke nods his head stiffly in greeting but doesn't offer anything else.

"Are you sure? Right around when you guys showed up, strange things have been happening, so I don't know..."

"What kind of strange things?"

"Weird things. Like this fog would come in during a completely sunny day, and all the Pokemon nearby would sort of go crazy."

Souji and Yosuke share a look. Teddie wouldn't happen to be talking about the same fog that passed through Yosuke's hometown, would he? It can't just be a coincidence. "Wait, what about the fog? It made Pokemon go crazy?"

"Yeah. Every time it appeared, all the nearby Pokemon would go crazy and attack the closest person in sight. I even saw one attack it's own trainer."

Souji shivers. He's glad that they didn't have the same thing happen to them, if it was the same strange fog. "Anyways, it started happening right before you two showed up! Which means that you must've had something to do with it!"

Yosuke angrily protests. "No man, we didn't have anything to do with freaky mind control fog, we're trying to _stop_ whoever's using the freaky mind control fog!"

"How can I know that you're telling the truth?"

Teddie, Souji decides, reminds him of Nanako. He gets an idea. "You could come with us and help find the people behind the strange fog, if you want."

Yosuke and Teddie give him the same surprised look, mouths hanging open and eyes wide, processing the information. Souji can almost see the loading sign above their heads.

Yosuke is the first to break out of his surprise. "What? You want this brat to come with us?"

"You want me to come with you?" Teddie asks, but instead of the shocked expression that Yosuke's face holds, Teddie looks almost hopeful. Souji realizes that it must be really lonely, living alone in a forest like this.

Souji nods. "Of course. We'd love for you to come with us. You can even get out of the forest and explore the region for yourself." It'll be a good experience for Teddie.

Teddie nods excitedly. "Of course I would love to come with you guys!"

That's how they end up finding Teddie, and their party jumps up from two to three.

\---

Yosuke and Teddie don't really get along- that much is easy to tell from their interactions. One of them likes to act like an immature child most of the time and likes to complain about anything, and the other one is Teddie.

Okay, maybe he needs to give Yosuke more credit. Maybe he just can't deal with kids the way Souji can (he admits that he can deal with younger children better than he can his peers, but that's a problem for another day). Maybe Yosuke's and Teddie's personalities just clash. Either way, the two of them like to bicker constantly.

(Well, it's not really bickering- it's more like Teddie and his interesting personality clashing with Yosuke's lack of patience and anger issues, but either way it's giving Souji a headache.)

"Shut up, you stupid bear!" Ah. Souji can already hear it starting again behind him, where Yosuke and Teddie are walking side by side. Why they don't just separate, Souji doesn't know. Maybe they both just lack common sense.

"But I didn't say anything!" Teddie says back teasingly, making Yosuke glare at him.

This is going to be a long forest trek.

"What are we doing wandering around like this, anyways? Shouldn't we be getting out of here?" Teddie asks, ignoring Yosuke's obvious anger in favor of talking to Souji.

"It's not something you would understand- it's for Pokemon masters, not little kids that literally grew up under rocks." Yosuke answers instead.

"We were on our way to the town on the other side of Shadow forest- I think it's called winter town, or something. There's a gym leader there, so before we leave we need to get stronger here so we can face them." Souji ignores Yosuke, leading them around a couple of sharp rocks.

"See?"

Teddie just stares at Yosuke. "I have Pokemon."

"What? No way."

"Yes way. Wanna see?"

Teddie pulls out two pokeballs from his pocket and waves them around in front of Yosuke's face mockingly. Souji gently pulls Yosuke away from Teddie so he doesn't do anything he might regret.

"Can I see your Pokemon, Teddie?"

"Sure!"

He clicks the button in the middle of the ball and throws it away from them.

Yosuke sighs. "It's just a teddiursa. I was expecting like a murder Pokemon or something."

"I have one more." Teddie throws the pokeball next to the first one.

"It's a cubchoo."

Teddie turns to Souji happily. "Cool, huh? I worked, like, really hard to get them and they're my best friends!"

Souji smiles. "You're really good. Maybe you could give Yosuke a few tips on catching Pokemon."

He grins at Yosuke, who huffs and grins back. "Dude, that's not fair. I'm decent enough at catching Pokemon."

"What kind of Pokemon do you have, Souji?" Teddie asks.

"Well, I have my Zorua, which was a parting gift from my uncle and cousin. Then I have my skitty, and now just recently, I caught an absol."

"That's so cool! And you, Yosuke?" Teddie turns to Yosuke with considerably less enthusiasm than when he had asked Souji.

"Jeez, at least pretend to care a little bit, would ya?" He grumbles. "But fine. I have a trubbish, which was a gift from a friend of mine, and a poochyena."

"You guys are both awesome trainers!" Teddie exclaims, a large excited grin on his face. Yep, he definitely reminds Souji of Nanako. Maybe someday when he visits home he can take Teddie with him so they can meet.

"Well, thanks... it's no big deal, hehe..."

Yosuke looks almost embarrassed to be complimented, but he offers a small smile to Teddie. Teddie returns it and they continue walking through the forest. Maybe Teddie and Yosuke will get along better than he thought.

"Souji's still better than you, you know." Teddie says casually.

"H-hey!"

Or maybe not.

\---

They finally reach the landmark a week after they entered the forest.

It was a long week of training their Pokemon (they now have three each- Soujji having Zorua, Skitty, and Absol while Yosuke has trash king, Poochyena, and now a Chatot as well). As well as the new Pokemon, they've gained a new addition to their team as well.

Teddie was definitely a pleasant surprise (well, at least to Souji he was). Yosuke eventually warmed up to him when Teddie admitted that he knew how to get to the landmark they were heading for- which was apparently a large cliff with strange carvings, and a waterfall with a lake at the bottom.

And that's where they were standing now.

"Wow, this place is actually pretty nice!" Yosuke comments as they examine the carvings on the walls. Teddie is holding onto Souji's hand tightly.

"Yeah, this place is pretty cool. I come here all the time." Teddie agrees.

"What are these drawings even supposed to represent?" Souji asks Teddie.

The scene on the wall is fairly simple- there's a shadowed figure standing in the middle, surrounded by smaller Pokemon. There are some older ones that Souji doesn't recognize. The picture looks twisted, too out of place for the sunny clearing it's drawn in. There seems to be a strange mist surrounding them.

Teddie examines the picture and shrugs. "I dunno, actually. There's no writing surrounding it. Doesn't it seem kind of violent, though?"

"You're right, actually. It almost looks like... the Pokemon are surrounded by fog, right? But that would be kind of silly, wouldn't it?" Yosuke laughs nervously, writing it off as a coincidence. He turns back to look at the picture, but not before he can hide the troubled expression on his face.

Souji takes a picture of it with a digital camera in case they need it for later reference. He gets sort of a bad feeling from the picture.

"Hey, we should probably go check out the lake, too!" Teddie tugs on Souji's sleeve, pointing to the nearby lake. At least something isn't creepy in this forest.

Yosuke turns back to look at the two of them, troubled expression replaced with a carefree grin. "Sure, let's check it out. It looks fun."

Even throughout their adventure in the lake, and then later on as they travel to the next town and prepare to battle the gym leader, Souji can't get the past week's events out of his head. He wishes he knew what he was getting into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so as soon as I write the next chapter (which may be in a week if they don't have wifi) but I'm probably gonna have a lot of time to write on the car trip there so if they do have wifi I'll post as soon a possible.
> 
> The next chapter is gonna be from Chie's perspective (can I get another hell ya) and just a warning qp Yosuke/Chie is like my one weakness so prepare for a lot of that I guess

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate title: I am a trash writer and and I'm souyo hell and I'm going to drag everyone down with me
> 
> Please tell me what you think in the comments!


End file.
